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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 1999)
Sports Sam McKewon NU football faces tests come spring SAN DIEGO - Looking at Nebraska in its 23-20 loss to Arizona, I didn’t see the silver lining in the dark cloud of NU’s season. Some did. Some saw a Nebraska team that has enough potential and big players returning for next season to erase anyone’s thoughts of the long, unexpected 1998. Not me. I see a Nebraska team with more questions than answers heading into the spring. I see a team that has to replace three defensive linemen. I see a team with a quarterback controversy that will linger for too long. I see a DeAngelo Evans, who, for all his^talent, has produced V UI J VU1 J Ul 1 l/Uvlv. I see an offensive line that has to replace two starters and will contin ue to have growing pains next year. I see a coach in Frank Solich who hasn’t discovered the wonders of the trick plays. I wonder if he ever will. Most of all, I see a Nebraska team that still has not come to terms with exactly where it is in the nation al scheme of things. Things move in cycles in foot ball. Every team experiences ups and downs in national scene. Few teams are great every smgle year. None are, really. And eventually, the teams on top are figured out by the opposition. It's either that, or they screw up. Texas. Miami. Alabama. Clemson. Penn State. Southern California. Georgia. All have been powerhouses at one time or another. All have been figured out. Oklahoma and SMU sold them selves down the river with violations. NU may be entering one of those downswings. The Cornhuskers were in a down period in the late 1980s/early 1990s. It was then that Tom Osborne decided to change the team defensively. It resulted in three national titles. Osborne did that same thing in the early 1980s by switching com pletely to the option. It resulted in some of the best teams and offenses NU has ever had. It may be time for that again. Not big changes, mind you. But a few. A re-evaluation of the attacking defense might be good. Solich also needs to look honest ly and fairly at NU’s offense and realize the shortcomings it pro duced. It’s time to look at the whole sys tem. It would be easier to sit back and wait for the team to reload. It might happen. It’s fair to expect it. It’s hap pened every other year. But what if the reloading doesn’t happen? Another 9-4 season? Fans might have accepted that in 1990, but after three national titles, they won’t stand for it. The clouds will only get darker. Sam McKewon is a junior news-editorial and political sci ence major and a Daily Nebraskan senior editor. “We had some chances to make plays in the first half and we didn’t.” Aseason0f lost chances Turnovers, rushing woes doom NU in first four-loss season since 1968 By Sam McKewon Senior editor SAN DIEGO - Jay Foreman looked tired. The middle linebacker had just fin ished his career at Nebraska with a Floliday Bowl loss. Here was a player who won two national titles as a Husker, one just last year. And here he was ___xtt t___^_ Arizona 23 Nebraska20 afterward, players were disappointed about the loss. But they were used to it, if only a lit tle. They had seen it three times already. And Nebraska saw it in almost the exact same fashion as it saw its final loss of the season. NU was unable to establish a consis tent running game throughout the con test. In fact, the attack was stagnant - gaining only 87 yards on 34 carries for a 2.5 average. Arizona, by contrast, gained 107 yards. UA running back i rung i^anioare out gained NU by him self. That hadn’t happened since the 1992 Orange Bowl. The Huskers lost the lead, too - the third time it resulted in a loss. NU did answer a Wildcat touchdown with an eight-play, 88-yard drive of its own. Of course, it came after quarter back Eric Crouch had been intercept ed by UA’s do everything corner back Chris McAlister, who promptly fumbled the ball right back to Nebraska. When Crouch, who completed 12 of 28 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns, hit tight end Tracey Wistrom with a 4-yard touchdown pass, the Huskers regained the lead at 20-16 and seemed poised to win a game they almost threw away in the first half “We had some chances to make plays in the first half and we didn’t,” voacn frame souen said. “We didn’t get things going on offense, and we made some mistakes on special teams.” After Arizona took the game’s opening kickoff and moved nowhere, the Wildcats punted - and wingback Shevin Wiggins fumbled back to UA. Arizona led 3-0. NU then had a Kris Brown field goal blocked. Two possessions later, UA kicker Mark McDonald nailed a 25-yard field goal. 6-0, Arizona. Arizona led 9-0 when McAlister returned a punt 65 yards for a touch down.It was nullified for a block in Joel Makovicka s back, a questionable call at best. All the while, Nebraska’s defense was plugging the awaiting dam burst, stopping the Wildcats inside the NU 20 three times. The Huskers, led by Holiday Bowl defensive MVP Mike Rucker, held Arizona to 99 yards in the first half and -1 yards rushing. But it seemed like the Blackshirts were on the field the entire first half, something that would take its toll in the fourth quarter. NU countered in the second with 13 points - two field goals and a 45-yard touchdown pass from Crouch to Wiggins. The Huskers led 13-9 at half time. “The beginning of the second half, we had a chance to put them away,” tight end Sheldon Jackson said. “But we did n’t do it. We didn’t get any points in the beginning of that second half.” It was Arizona that scored first in the second half, and not until the fourth quarter. The Wildcats, who had plunged into the NU defensive line without suc cess for three quarters, found a new weapon: the cutback. “It’s just the big running plays that Please see HOLIDAY on 14 Scott McClurg/DN ABOVE: NEBRASKA linebacker Jamie Burrow and fullback Billy Legate scram ble for the ball with Arizona’s Dennis Northcutt after an Arizona fumble. TOP: NEBRASKA OFFENSIVE TACKLE Kyle Kollmorgen walks off the field fol lowing the Holiday Bowl held at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. The Huskers were defeated by the Arizona Wildcats 23-20. It wasihe fourth loss for the Huskers this season. waiveiling, uuuu^ii no 5t-a~ son since 1968. The 23-20 defeat to Arizona was not even an hour old and Foreman and many other Huskers knew why they had lost - a striking contrast to the foggy bewilderment of the Texas game and fiery anger of the Kansas State game. With no more games left to play, it seems pointless to be furious. Foreman, who had been the most vocal about NU’s superiority after the KSU loss, had no indignant speeches prepared outside the Qualcomm Stadium's locker room. Rather, it was a simple analysis of the loss to No. 4 Arizona (12-1), coupled with Nebraska’s performance all season. “We should have played better tonight,” Foreman said. “Shoulda played better all season, really. We’ve been in a funk the whole season.” Foreman paused. “But you know what, that’s just the kind of team we were,” he said. “We just expected to win. We could have been undefeated, but we could have been 6-6, too. With the way we played, we’re a lit tle bit lucky not to have more losses.” No. 17 NU ended up somewhere in between - at 9-4 and outside of the top 10 for the first time in six years. And it We could have been undefeated, but w6 could have been 6-6, too. With the way we played we re a little bit lucky not to have more losses ” Jay Foreman NU linebacker